Review: Exit 2013 Day 2 – The Dance Arena marked the perfect end

On the second day we woke up very early by the bright sun that was preceded by a slight rain. The raindrops could be heard tickling around the tent and on the camping grass and that helped us fall into a profound sleep and rest as we had a busy and long schedule for that day. We then made our way straight to the Petrovaradin Fortress in order to attend a special sightseeing tour of the fortress and the most momentous locations around the city through the mobile phone application called “Belgrade story” created by Telekom Serbia. Through this application, we experienced the Petrovaradin fortress from a completely different point of view and found out some interesting historic facts related to the most significant buildings on the “Gibraltar on the Danube”.

Right near, the festival goers started to proceed to the festival area and made their presence known at the Main Stage, which was opened by Serbia’s Kanda Kodza I Nebojsa, and followed by a performance of the popular Belgrade rappers Wikluh Skyand Ajs Nigrutin and their band Bad Copy. Bad Copy is very famous in Serbia, and its humorous lyrics and slang are two features that make this band one of a kind. It represents one of Serbia’s most important hip-hop groups, because they contributed in the popularization of hip-hop music in Serbia and Ex-Yugoslavia in the new millennium. Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to enjoy them long, due to the interesting interview to Deniz Kurtel we had to cover, but the impressions of the people who enjoyed them to the full were all very positive.

Bad Copy was the band that opened up for the famed and fabulous Snoop Lion formerly known as Snoop Dogg. Snoop Lion was the headliner of the second night, whose new album “Reincarnated” was presented alongside his past hits. It wasn’t the first time Snoop performed at Exit. The last time was in 2007 and back then during his show he assured Exit rebelliously that “This ain’t the last time you’re gonna see this face.” So he made his commitment, but kept it as well.

It is claimed that the reincarnated Snoop Dogg has widened his horizons with the influence of peace and love, since he is lately engaged into reggae and that is how he added Snoop Lion into his name. Since many years he was captured by Jamaica, but only this February a new documentary about his journey on the Caribbean Island came out. Regarding all this change in his character and rhythms, Snoop mentions: “What it is is trying to bring some love and awareness to some great music that was created, that was made to grow and made to have a life, to have the right attention put on it, so hopefully it’ll do what it’s supposed to do.”

When the eminent and ground-breaking Snoop Dogg, aka Snoop Lion, appeared on the Main Tesla Stage, over 40 thousand feet moved approaching towards him in order to be present for the first notes of “Here comes the king”. He was welcomed in an enthusiastic way from the audience by screaming and hands flew up in the air. Hot female presences danced wildly during the entire performance of Snoop, who completely excited the audience.

Laid back and mellow, as always, with his diamond-covered microphone, he performed many old, ever-popular hits to our surprise, blending them well with the new, reggae-inspired ones. After that we had a second interview for that night with the fantastic Kate Boy, who exploded us with positive words and energy. After that, we rushed to enjoy the end of Snoop’s performance who declared loudly: “This was a fantastic concert. The audience in Serbia is great. You have a great festival here and it has been an honor to be a part of this energy Exit has”, said Snoop Dogg, whose performance at the EXIT 2013 Main Stage will be remembered for a long time.

Then we proceeded to the overflown Dance Arena, where the up-lifting electro-pop band Kate Boy took over the stage, whose beat was just perfect for us. Their sound resembles to my beloved Fever Ray and got a lot of cool synth sounds and sound Swedish- influenced. In fact they are one part Australian and three parts Swedish. Kate Akhurst, the front woman moved inexhaustibly on stage and the amazing visual show they put on left us breathless!

The audience and media’s opinion that they are the best new live act this summer was confirmed to the maximum by their cool and energetic performance on the Dance Arena. Following Kate Boy wasFatboy Slimwho judging by the immense sea of visitors was definitely the hottest spot of the night! After such a full time experience and so much exhilaration during the whole day and night we looked so much forward to the upcoming acts of the next days, and a new day was about to dawn..

Passionate for music from a very young age. After spending some years abroad, she now returned to her base Thessaloniki, Greece. Interested in foreign languages and cultures. Loves the 50s, 60s and 70s era and retro stuff, but has a broad and at the same time eclectic taste! Cofounder of Greece's only sixties influenced web radio "Sixties Radio" (sixties-radio.com) and has been Dj at some of the coolest venues in Thessaloniki.